It was a great idea to devote an entire program of this "Civilizations" series to nature and landscape art. But the filmmakers try to cover far too many artists, styles, cultures, and techniques for a 55-minute program. The low point was an analysis of the Berlin Wall as an example of art without a clue as to how that example pertains to nature!
The best portions of the show are those with Simon Schma's commentaries on art. He offered an excellent interpretation of Brueghel, as well as a fascinating analysis of the idealized vision of Chinese landscape painting, identified as "a glimpse of the transcendent." In Song China, landscape artists painted hand scrolls of natural environments that reflected harmony, peace, and order. This tradition in Chinese art was revived to great effect during the authoritarian regime of Mao Zedong.
One brief segment was devoted to Islam art as expressed in gardens in Lahore, Pakistan, which are identified as "heavenly paradises on earth." The unique art of carpet weaving is discussed as another contribution in Islamic culture with the golden age of carpet construction coming in the seventeenth century and seen as "a symbol of heaven."
The Renaissance ideals of harmony, grace, and pleasure are seen in Italian Renaissance villa architecture in Venice. The Venetian statesman Danielle Barbero was a friend of Palladio, and, together, they built their Renaissance dream house with paintings by Paulo Veronese. Schama calls the structure a "teasing fun house."
There was also a section of the art of the stolid Dutch burghers of the seventeenth century and the miracle of land reclamation through pumping water out in from 1607-12, in order to create 200,000 of glorious pasture to feed the hungry members of the thriving Dutch republic.
Romanticism is covered in this whirlwind tour, with the American Hudson River School's contributions with such painters as Thomas Cole. The term "luminism" was pointedly used to describe the vibrant colors of the American artists.
The program is framed by an analysis of photography, with a focus on the groundbreaking work of Ansel Adams and his famous "Monolith" that captured El Capitan in Yosemite. As if it were not enough to squeeze photography into a discussion of landscape art, the filmmakers manage to throw in photographs taken of Earth by the Hubble telescope.
This program was not merely a global coverage of landscape art. It was indeed intergalactic in scale!
The best portions of the show are those with Simon Schma's commentaries on art. He offered an excellent interpretation of Brueghel, as well as a fascinating analysis of the idealized vision of Chinese landscape painting, identified as "a glimpse of the transcendent." In Song China, landscape artists painted hand scrolls of natural environments that reflected harmony, peace, and order. This tradition in Chinese art was revived to great effect during the authoritarian regime of Mao Zedong.
One brief segment was devoted to Islam art as expressed in gardens in Lahore, Pakistan, which are identified as "heavenly paradises on earth." The unique art of carpet weaving is discussed as another contribution in Islamic culture with the golden age of carpet construction coming in the seventeenth century and seen as "a symbol of heaven."
The Renaissance ideals of harmony, grace, and pleasure are seen in Italian Renaissance villa architecture in Venice. The Venetian statesman Danielle Barbero was a friend of Palladio, and, together, they built their Renaissance dream house with paintings by Paulo Veronese. Schama calls the structure a "teasing fun house."
There was also a section of the art of the stolid Dutch burghers of the seventeenth century and the miracle of land reclamation through pumping water out in from 1607-12, in order to create 200,000 of glorious pasture to feed the hungry members of the thriving Dutch republic.
Romanticism is covered in this whirlwind tour, with the American Hudson River School's contributions with such painters as Thomas Cole. The term "luminism" was pointedly used to describe the vibrant colors of the American artists.
The program is framed by an analysis of photography, with a focus on the groundbreaking work of Ansel Adams and his famous "Monolith" that captured El Capitan in Yosemite. As if it were not enough to squeeze photography into a discussion of landscape art, the filmmakers manage to throw in photographs taken of Earth by the Hubble telescope.
This program was not merely a global coverage of landscape art. It was indeed intergalactic in scale!
